Chapter 21 – Inhuman

Enjoy.

Bobbi slid down the wall to the small amount of floor space that her room provided and let out a steady breath that she'd held when she left the rest of the team with Clint after Natasha had agreed to talk with him. It wasn't that Bobbi had a problem with it, she was only protective of Natasha because she knew how Clint could get when he didn't get what he wanted. Natasha was strong, emotionally and physically, she could manipulate people and had been one of S.H.I.E.L.D's greatest agents. But if she loves you enough, your actions could cut through her heart like a knife.

She ran her hands over her face roughly in an attempt to free her mind from the problems floating around the Bus. As she did, voices could be heard not far from where she sat, and she anticipated an onslaught of questions from the other agents about some of the stuff that Clint had said. Instead, Lance appeared from around the corner and peered down at her from the doorway.

"Surprised you chose the floor over the bed." He said, lightly. Bobbi tilted her head and raised an eyebrow,

"You kidding? You know I'm not one for sleeping unless I've been knocked unconscious."

Lance smiled, "Of course I do." He sat himself down in by the doorway. They were quiet for a period of time before he spoke again,

"I hope you don't mind me bringing this up right now but I've been trying to talk to you for a long while. Things kept coming up like missions, Clint and… Damien," He stopped himself from getting off-track, "We haven't been on the best of terms lately and I want to clear everything up sooner rather than later."

"You're right." Bobbi agreed. Lance looked carefully at her. There was no way that Bobbi was being so accepting. Not a chance.

"That's great and all, Bob, but do you understand the mess we've made of ourselves?"

"I understand, Hunter. It's just hard when things are happening so fast you can't comprehend it and by the time you try to, something else has arrived. So I'm sorry if you feel a little hard done by but the 'mess' won't be cleared in one sitting. I think deep down you know that too." Bobbi ended.

Lance knew it. It was just hard to accept it. He held a lot of love for this woman and it was hard to reel it back at times. It was lucky that she was more controlled than him.

"Yeah sure, one more thing though," He paused, not sure if he was ready to throw around accusations yet, "Just, no more lies right? Clint said some stuff out there that got me thinking but I'm trusting you enough and I'm gonna forget about it."

Bobbi smiled her thanks but couldn't help but look away guiltily. If Lance noticed then he didn't say anything, choosing to change the topic to a lighter subject.

"Got any snacks?"

"Hunter, seriously. Food right now?" Bobbi said, incredulously. Lance shrugged,

"Why not, any time is good for food… and drink. Definitely drink."

Bobbi laughed as she stood up and reached out her arm for him to take.

"Come on then."

"So how's it been?" Clint asked as he sat opposite Natasha in the lounge area, "Working with S.H.I.E.L.D again can't exactly be a walk in the park."

She watched him with an expression that gave no clues to what she felt. In all honesty, she didn't know what to feel. The last thing she'd expected was a civil chat when Clint arrived which now left her unprepared.

"S.H.I.E.L.D's been good. Coulson has been welcoming, as have the rest of this team. No regrets." She replied. Clint nodded with a hint of a knowing smile on his face.

"You've moved on, I saw it in your eyes when you said that." He said.

Natasha tried to keep her face under control but struggled as a million questions shot through her brain at how on earth Clint was so observing. Her response was only to muster a stuttered sentence of disagreement,

"No way, Barton. There's no way we are talking about my love life. My non-existent love life."

Clint put his hands up in surrender however it didn't stop him from continuing to pester Natasha, "So who's the lucky guy this time?" He faltered when he thought about the options, "It's not that tall guy, is it?"

"What, Mack? He's almost like a brother, which would be weir-"

"Not him, I recognise Mack from when Bobbi and I were closer. The other tall one, haven't seen him before." Clint cut in. Natasha had to think for another moment before she could answer,

"Damien. Wow, that's a little far-fetched don't you think? Not my type at all. In fact, I think Agent Skye has a liking for him…" Natasha mused.

Clint pulled a face, "All right, all right, I don't need the love information of everyone in this place. If it isn't him though, I can't imagine you're pairing up with Coulson or Lance so that only leaves the women. You and Melinda getting a bit-"

"Woah there. Let's not get carried away, shall we? How about move along?" It was Natasha's turn to stop Clint from going any further with his process of thought, not only because it was awkward and embarrassing but if he got any closer to the truth, it would mean he got closer to being able to jeopardize it.

Clint stopped the hassling and his features turned more serious and somewhat sad. He looked at Natasha and she looked back at him. An odd sense of déjá vu washed over them both as the glance was much like the one they shared on the day they had parted.

"If you have moved on, Tasha, we won't be going on the missions like we used to. It kinda pains me to think that we'll never be partners again." He spoke softly. The Russian smoothed out her gaze as the realisation hit her too. Then another idea struck and the expression had a spark to it again.

"There is one more chance. If the evidence you gave us is good, then we could use another pair of hands." She suggested. Clint blew out a breath and sat back as he considered the offer.

"I wouldn't stay on this plane. I wouldn't take orders from S.H.I.E.L.D or Coulson. I wouldn't do anything that gets me into too much of a situation because, without S.H.I.E.L.D, I have no extraction team – no defence. Things go south and I'm out," He stated before a half-grin covered his face, "But other than that, I'm in."

"No, no, no, no. This can't be right." Simmons frowned at the results in front of her, hoping somehow that they would change. Fitz tried to peer over her shoulder but instead Simmons spun around and waved the results in his face.

"This, this is not scientifically possible for a human's DNA! In the long time we have worked for S.H.I.E.L.D, there have been very unusual happenings. But this looks worryingly familiar yet so wrong because S.H.I.E.L.D should have stopped this years ago. The technology was locked away forever and I don't understand how-"

Fitz grabbed the papers off Simmons, "Let me have a look."

His confusion got increasingly evident on his face as Simmons was nodding at him, finally happy that they shared the same opinion about the data.

"This is- this is… um, it's…" Fitz struggled for the word. Simmons carried on rambling,

"Crazy! It's crazy and quite frankly completely out of our knowledge range to deal with. Scientists from decades ago even struggled with such DNA. It was…" She stopped, her and Fitz's eyes locked, both had the same word in their mind.

"No, it can't be…" Simmons breathed. Fitz could only nod. They then whispered the word on the tips on their tongues, a slightly scary revelation,

"Inhuman."

Thanks for reading.

I'm trying to create my own angle of inhuman in this story, bear with me if it doesn't quite make sense yet.

Tell me what you think :)